QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
In his “History of the Catholic Church Among the Indian Tribes of the United States,” p. 87, John Gilmary Shea writes:
“A full history of this [the Texas] mission was composed about the year 1783, by one of the Fathers, which is still in manuscript, and will furnish, when published, a complete account of the labors of the Apostolic men of whom the present writer can only glean occasional notices.”
In a note Shea adds: “I had the work in my hands, and was in treaty for its purchase; but contrary to every expectation on my part, it was sold without my knowledge to another, and I have since been unable to trace it.”
Can any one give me information about this manuscript?
Edmond J. P. Schmitt.
Baker, in his “Texas Scrap-Book,” writes, p. 275:
“John Rice Jones came from Missouri to Texas about the year 1831. He was postmaster-general under the first provisional government. He was for years a merchant, and he died in 1845.”
Was this the same John Rice Jones that lived at Vincennes, Indiana, in the beginning of the century? Can any one give me more information about him?
Edmond J. P. Schmitt.
Mound Prairie, as referred to by Yoakum and Thrall, is five and a half miles west of the town of Alto, Cherokee county. There is a settlement in Anderson county, about ten miles west of Palestine, called Mound Prairie, but it is not near so old as a landmark as the first named place.
Dabney White.
The Flournoy Family.—For some time Mr. Flournoy Rivers, of Pulaski, Tenn., has had in preparation for the “Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,” published at Richmond by the Virginia Historical Society, a series of articles relative to the Flournoy family in both Europe and America. The first of the series appeared in the issue for July, 1894. These articles are not based on the mere “they say” of verbal tradition, but upon authentic history, wills, deeds, court records and official data.
From the time that Laurent Flournoy, the Huguenot, fled from persecution in Champagne, France, first to Lyons after the Guise Massacre of the Protestants on March 1, 1562, at Vassy, and then to Geneva, Switzerland, after the Great Massacre of the Bartholomew in 1572 (see Agnew's French Protestant Exiles, vol. 2, p. 270), two branches of this family have lived—are now living—at Geneva. They are interested and are aiding. Between the Eupean and the American Flournoys correspondence was kept up from 1700 down to about 1758, and has recently been revived.
From Geneva Jacob Flournoy, Laurent's great-grandson, came with his family in September, 1700, to the now extinct Huguenot settlement, Manikin Town, on the James river, in the present Powhatan county. See “Huguenot Emigration to Virginia,” page 15, a compilation of State papers referring to this Colony, which was published a few years since by the Virginia Historical Society. Jacob's only son, Francis Flournoy, made his will April 13, 1770; probated at the March term, 1773, Chesterfield county court; and now of record at Chesterfield C. H., Va., in Will Book 2, page 262. He left a numerous family of sons and daughters, each of whom in turn became the head of a large connection.
Soon after Jacob came his nephew, John James Flournoy—see “Huguenot Emigration,” page 112—who, marrying in 1720, died March 23rd, 1740. His will was probated at Richmond, Henrico county, at the April term, 1740. He likewise left sons and daughters, from one of whom—Samuel Flournoy, born 1724, died 1780, in Powhatan county (Will Book No. 1, page 66)—the compiler descends.
Though so widely scattered throughout America, it is easily susceptible of legal proof that all members of this family have a common origin. The compiler, therefore, asks you to aid him in putting all of them “in touch” with each other. He receives for it— and expects—no compensation; he has, instead, devoted to it much time and labor and money. Readers of the Quarterly are, therefore, requested: (1) To furnish him the full name and postoffice address of every person of Flournoy descent within their knowledge; (2) To lay this matter before all such persons, requesting their co-operation; (3) To furnish Mr. Rivers an historical account, accurate and minute in detail, NOT in the form of a RUNNING LETTER, but a TABULATED statement—of the descent of themselves and of the members of their branch.
Give full names; be accurate and minute as to dates, civil, political, military or naval employment, giving official records; note all collegiate graduations and authorships, if any; born when and where; married when, to whom, lived where; occupation what; died when; buried where; religion what; politics what. Consult family Bibles, town records, county, State and national records, tombstones, church records, will and deed books, etc., giving book and page.
Mr. Rivers is also interested in and would be glad to correspond about and pay for colonial and revolutionary and historical data of the following names and families:
Rivers.—Antecedents of William Rivers, of Brunswick county, Va.; died in March, 1809, testate; will now of record at Lawrenceville, Va. The name existed in Lunenberg and Greensville counties, both off-shoots of Brunswick.
Brown.—Aaron Brown, father-in-law of the foregoing, William Rivers, executor of his will and testamentary guardian of his sons, John and William, whom he brought from Virginia to Giles county, Tennessee in 1813. He was born in 1757, died 1830.
Camp.—Capt. John Camp. father of Dr. John Hamlin Camp. who was Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, pro tempore, 1821, Representative 1825, Speaker in 1827. Capt. Camp was a soldier of the Revolution: removed to Middle Tennessee from Brunswick (or Greenville?) County, Va., 1807; died at Elkton, Giles county, 1820, aged 66 years.
Cannon.—William Cannon, of “Mt. Ida,” Buckingham county, Va.; came to Tennessee 1807-12, and removed to Caldwell county, Ky., about 1820; died, and is buried near Princeton, Ky., on the Bennett or Catlett place. His first wife was Sarah Mosby (below).
Rodes.—Tyree Rodes, one of the founders of Pulaski, Tenn. (Act of Tennessee Legislature, Nov. 14, 1809); was son of John Rodes (2nd), son of John Rodes (1st), of Albemarle and Hanover counties, Va.
Mosby.—Benjamin Mosby, lived at what is now “Cumberland Old Court House,” Powhatan county, Va.; died testate 1774; father of (among others) Littleberry Mosby, of “Font Hill,” Powhatan county, who was a member of Cumberland Committee of Safety, 1775-76, and in the first Commission of the Peace, Powhatan county, June, 1777; county lieutenant, 1780-81; burgess, 1781; sheriff, 1797; died testate, 1809. His first wife (1748) was Elizabeth Netherland.
Harris.—The Harris family of Louisa, Albemarle, and Hanover counties, Va. Sarah Harris married John Rodes (2nd). She had a brother, Tyree Harris, who removed from the parish 1758. Is he the Tyree Harris who was in the Commission of the Peace for Orange county, N. C., 1759, in Assembly 1760, and sheriff 1766-67?
Avirett.—The Avirett family, once of Onslow county, N. C. John Alfred Avirett, Sr., lived at “Richland,” Onslow county. His son, J. A. A., Jr., wounded at New Hope Church, Georgia campaign, 1864; died soon after; Captain Fifty-eighth Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
Markham.—John Markham, Chesterfield county, Va.; said to be the immigrant, 1717. His great-grandson, Dr. James Bernard Markham, removed from Amherst (?) county, Va., to Hale (Green?) county, South Alabama, many years ago. Lived many years in Perry county, Ala.
Holland.—James Holland, of Rutherford county, N. C.; was sheriff of old Tryon county, before its division in 1779, from July, 1777, to July, 1778; second lieutenant in Hardin's company, Locke's regiment, North Carolina militia, 1776; after the war was in the State Senate, 1783, 1797; in the House, 1786, 1789; member first Board of Trustees, University of North Carolina, 1789-1795; member second North Carolina Constitutional Convention (that adopted the Federal Constitution), 1789; in Congress, March, 1795 to March, 1797, and 1801 to 1811. (His will construed, 2 Yerger Tenn. Rep., 341, in case of Tyree Rodes and wife vs. Holland.) He died 1823. His land grants reviewed in Childress vs. Holland, 3 Haywood Tenn. Rep., 274.
Gilbert.—William Gilbert, of “Gilbert-town,” near present Rutherfordtown, N. C. In Commission of Peace of old Tyron county up to April, 1776; tax assessor, in Commission of Peace of new county of Rutherford; in House, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783. His daughter, Sarah Gilbert, married James Holland, in January, 1780. His wife was Sarah McCandless of Philadelphia. She died at the Holland place in Maury county, Tenn., 1822. Gilbert is called “a loyalist” in Draper's “King's Mountain,” which absurd error, Mr. Rivers ascertained, is due solely to the fact that Major Forguson camped several weeks at Gilbert-town in September, 1780.
Flournoy.—The American ramifications from Laurent Flournoy, the Huguenot of 1562-72. See Agnew's “French Protestant Exiles” and “La France Protestante,” including the progeny of both his descendants, Jacob, the immigrant of 1700, and Jacob's nephew, John James, the immigrant of 1717-1720; “Huguenot Emigration to Virginia.”
How to cite:
"QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.", Volume 001, Number 4, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 307 - 311. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v001/n4/back_9.html
[Accessed Mon Dec 1 17:27:42 CST 2008]
